Friends In Low Places
by Scarletfern
Summary: Thousands of miles from New York, Kurt and Jane run into an old enemy-turned-ally with valuable information.
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah, yeah. I know. Writing fanfic again instead of writing a myth for English about why we have snow or something strange like that that's 50% of my grade and due on the first day back. And not updating the two fics that are ongoing… And I think I may have left them on cliffhangers. Sorry. But I can't concentrate… And then I had this dream… Plus, I wasn't doing homework anyway. I was basically stalking the cast on social media in search of S3 spoilers. I can't really seem to stop procrastinating… It's a problem.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Blindspot or any of these characters. Nor do I own the Garth Brooks song I got the title from.**

 **…**

Jane quickened her footsteps, eyes darting from side to side before her green gaze locked tightly with his blue. Something was off. She could sense it – the atmosphere was wrong. And not just because they were thousands of miles from New York.

Kurt caught her arm and gave her a questioning, slightly paranoid look, as if he were afraid that she was trying to run again. She returned the intense stare with a brief shake of her head that would have been invisible to anyone but him.

"Just a minute, Kurt." She said out loud, stopping in front of a shop window. To anyone else, it would have looked as if she were merely attempting to smooth her unruly hair. To Kurt however, it registered as exactly what it was; she was checking the window reflection for a tail.

"Done?" he asked, leaning closer as if to check her reflection for himself, while murmuring close to her ear, "Anything?"

"The guy by the bench with the newspaper," She said, discreetly tilting her head back in his direction. "He's keeping his face covered and he's been behind us since we left the hotel."

"Roman?"

"No, too short." She replied with wistful certainty.

"How do you want to handle this?" He immediately asked, knowing that she had an idea in mind.

"She considered their surroundings. "Alleyway. I'm pretty sure it's just one guy, we can take him." She replied, dipping her head slightly in the direction of a narrow gap in between the buildings.

They moved quickly, weaving down the small, crowded street until they were able to slip into the shadowed space, waiting in a spot where they wouldn't be immediately detected. After about ten minutes, their patience was rewarded.

They knew the instant he approached, as the sparse sunlight that had previously been filtered into the alleyway disappeared as soon as his figure fell into view.

Jane had hung back, nearer to the mouth of the alley, hidden, while Kurt had inched farther back to cut off any attempted escape, and there they waited, until their target had reached the midpoint in between them. They both reacted at exactly the same time, with explosive accuracy, and, within moments, they had their purser pinned to the ground, limp and moaning with pain.

Kurt wasted no time hauling him to his feet and slamming him against the brick wall. When he recognized his prisoner, he loosened his grip in surprise.

"Rich? What the hell are you doing here? How did you get out this time?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy, Angry. Is that any way to treat your old pal Rich?"

"You aren't answering my question." Kurt growled through his teeth.

"You guys haven't called me in over two years! I mean, we're all basically best friends, so it would have been _nice_ if you'd at least _told_ me you were getting hitched, especially since I'm the only reason you're together – I mean maybe not the only…" He backpedaled at the dark look that Weller gave him. Stubbles was clearly not in the mood.

"How. Did. You. Get. Out?" Kurt demanded slowly.

"Look, we don't really need to go into details, but I mean, when you're a genius like me you don't have to wait for parole, I mean, I have this cousin who has this husband who has this friend who has this… Okay, okay. You're not in the mood, I get it. That's cool. Let's just say a lot can happen in two years… So, how have you been, Jane? Everything good? Prince Charming here treating you well? Hey, wait… Where's your ring? Don't tell me you ditched him! Stubbles! Wait, wait, wait. Okay, we can fix this… We just have to… Okay, give me a minute…" He trailed off as Kurt's jaw tightened with annoyance.

"Nobody's ditching anyone. Now, get to the point of why you're following us so that we can turn you over to the local authorities and get back to what we need to be doing."

"What?! You can't turn me over to these guys! Those prison people are crazy, they'll tear me apart! Jane, make him think! No, wait. Don't. He can't ever think clearly around you. He's just confused! Stubbles, please!"

"Rich! Get to the point." Jane snapped in frustration. With Rich, nothing was straightforward. He always had to pick apart their relationship before he gave them anything useful.

Kurt took an aggressive step towards Rich, who shrank back a little.

"Look, guys," he said, now uncharacteristically somber. "I tracked you down for a reason. Your team… I know where they are."

 **…**

 **I don't even know. It's almost midnight and I know that this is probably in severe need of editing. Also, I realize now that this is probably going to be more than the one-shot it was supposed to be. Oops… Well, like I said, I'm super busy, so I don't know when I'll be back, but definitely sometime later this month, probably with chapter 10 of** ** _"_** ** _Nightmare"_** **first.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sooo… I kinda had to cut this chapter short, but I will try to make the next one longer.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Blindspot or any of these characters. Nor do I own the Garth Brooks song I got the title from.**

* * *

 _"Your team… I know where they are."_

Rich's words hung in the air, both Jane and Kurt stunned by his revelation. Finally, Kurt broke their mutual silence.

"Excuse me?" He asked, his face expressionless and his voice dangerously quiet. If Rich was lying… well, things would end badly for him. If _anything_ happened to his team before he could find them, he would hold Rich personally responsible for wasting his time. The clock was ticking and timing was everything.

"C'mon, Stubbles, remember? Your team. Err… _former_ team. Miss-don't-call-me-Patty the Lab Lady, Suzy-frowns-a-lot, and the tall dude you call Tasha?"

 _"Rich,"_ Jane started in exasperation.

"Get to the point." Kurt finished impatiently.

Rich sighed blissfully. "This is _just_ like old times. I get off track and then… _bam._ You guys keep me focused. Remember when I said we should make this a thing? Well, I was totally right. Tell you what, we could just be the _new_ team and forget about those other three. Whaddaya think? … no? Not a fan?"

Rich shrank back a little at their matching glares and muttered "Well, I mean, _I_ think it could work. But, hey. Whatever works for you two. Personally, I think that both of you have got a _lot_ workin-"

 _"Rich!"_ They snapped together.

"Okay! Fine, fine. But if you want them back, then you have to work _with_ me, not against me. Try to realize, Stubbles, I'm the only person who can help you with this. I know exactly where they were taken, unlike you two. So it's gonna be kind of an I-help-you, you-help-me scenario. Fun, right? I mean-"

"Shut up and walk."

"So… are we going to talk about it, or-"

"We _will_ discuss it. But. Not. Here." Kurt growled quietly through his teeth. "Now shut up. And walk."

They continued on until they found a hotel. At the front desk, Kurt asked the receptionist for a room. As she handed over the key cards, she shot all three of them a disapproving, judgmental glare. Rich took great delight in this.

"See, she's got the right idea. I mean, right now, we've got to go rescue the team, but afterwards…"

Jane rolled her eyes and leaned against the door. "Where are they, Rich? This isn't a game."

"Oh, I know. But first, we need to talk business."

"What business, Rich?" Weller asked.

"Oh, what, like you thought I was just going to _give_ you their location? And then go back to jail? No. That is _not_ happening. See, I didn't _have_ to come find you. But I _did_. See, Stubbles, I _want_ to help you. But first, you have to help me."

"Fine, what do you want?" Kurt asked immediately, jaw clenched.

Rich was taken aback at this. He'd been sure that it would be harder to convince them – they must be really worried. He'd known that they treated the other three like family… but maybe he'd never really grasped the entirety of their closeness.

"Well?"

"Immunity," Rich answered immediately. "And protection. I've pissed off some _extremely_ powerful people lately, and let's just say, they are not very happy with me at the moment."

"Rich, we can't just let you go free, that's-" Jane began.

"I'll talk to Nas. We can set something up, and at the least get you a reduced sentence." Kurt interrupted her immediately.

"Sounds good, Stubbles. But Nas? Who's…? OH. You're talking about that NSA lady." Rich nodded in satisfaction. "Reduced sentence would be fine. I'd prefer a deal… jail's not really my thing, ya know? I have been thinking of taking up knitting-"

"I'll take care of it. Just give me my team's location first."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow _down_ , Mr. FBI. I need the deal in _writing_ first. And no deal means no location. Which also means no team. As I already said, I don't give out this information for free."

"Fine." Weller grumbled under his breath. "Jane, you stay here with Rich. I'll be back in a little while."

Jane watched helplessly as Kurt left. _Where was he going? How was he still in contact with Nas? Was he really going to give Rich a get-out-of-jail-free-card? And more importantly, how did Rich know where their team was?_

She looked over at Rich and sighed in resignation. This was going to be interesting...


End file.
